


Twitch

by Anonymous



Category: Crankiplier - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, M/M, Mind the Tags, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, projecting once again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 07:54:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28542114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: The men had been together for a few months and had known each other before they began pursuing each other romantically. Despite the near year and a half of friendship and romance together, there were some things that were still left unsaid between both men.-or-Mark noticed somethings a while ago, but the truth doesn't come out until now.
Relationships: Mark Fischbach/Ethan Nestor
Comments: 1
Kudos: 90
Collections: Anonymous





	Twitch

Mark and Ethan sat on Mark’s couch together, Ethan straddling Mark’s thighs. They were sharing a long, loving kiss. The moment was sweet and tender, nothing lustfull or rushing about the action of their kiss. Mark had one strong arm wrapped around Ethan’s waist, holding him close to his body, his other hand cupping Ethan’s cheek gently. Ethan’s hands rested gently on Mark’s strong shoulders. A fluffy blanket draped around his shoulders, surrounding both he and Mark in a comfortable warmth. Mark and Ethan felt mostly comfortable around each other.

Mostly. 

The men had been together for a few months and had known each other before they began pursuing each other romantically. Despite the near year and a half of friendship and romance together, there were some things that were still left unsaid between both men. 

Mark never mentioned the way he noticed Ethan flinch away at anyone raising a hand for a high five or to even reach for something on a high shelf. Mark noticed this about his boyfriend a few weeks after they had become friends. It was a trait about him that he did not have when they first met. He also noticed a few lingering, healing bruises on Ethan’s arms near the beginning of their friendship, but never mentioned them as he never saw them again. Mark didn’t feel it was his place to ask and he knew Ethan would talk to him when he was ready. 

Ethan got lost in the feeling of Mark’s tongue gently licking its way into his mouth. Ethan welcomed the intrusion by parting his lips, deepening the kiss. He could feel blood rushing south in his body and he pulled his face away from Mark’s, effectively ending the kiss and earning a displeased whine from Mark. 

“Sorry,” Ethan panted, cheeks flushed pink. 

“Don’t be,” Mark assured, rubbing his thumb along Ethan’s glistening bottom lip. “You’re gorgeous.”

Ethan leaned forward again to only press their foreheads together and to gaze into Mark’s dark eyes. They stayed that way for a few moments before Ethan noticed a change in Mark’s gaze. He looked almost...shy. Very different from the confident Mark he was used to. 

“Um,” Mark began, sliding his hands along Ethan’s thighs. “Would you like to stay the night? To sleep, I mean. Just sleep.”

Ethan pulled back once again, blinking at his boyfriend. He wanted to. Ethan wanted nothing more than to be able to spend a tender night with his boyfriend. But Ethan had been having trouble sleeping since the..incident just after he had moved to LA. 

“Um, I want to, but I don’t have any clothes here,” Ethan tried, looking for an excuse to not stay the night. So Mark didn’t have to experience Ethan struggle to sleep.

“You can borrow mine. Please?” Mark stared at Ethan with big puppy eyes.

“What if I do something weird or talk in my sleep?”

“I don’t care,” Mark murmured assuringly, leaning up to rub his nose against Ethan’s. “I just want to spend the night with you and wake up next to you in the morning.” 

“Okay.”

Mark grinned in response. “Do you want to shower? It’s already kind of late.” 

“Yes, please.” 

Ethan was showering in Mark’s bathroom while he went to get him some comfy clothes and some fluffy towels. Ethan tried his best to calm his racing thoughts as he thoroughly cleaned his body and washed his hair. Once Ethan was finished, he dried himself off with a fluffy grey towel that Mark left for him on the towel rack. 

As Ethan emerged from the bathroom, Mark rushed in with the promise of only being a few minutes so they could get settled into bed. Ethan sat on the edge of the bed, scrolling mindlessly on his phone as he waited for Mark. 

When his boyfriend emerged, nerves and giddiness ran through his body all at the same time. He was excited to cuddle with his boyfriend for eight or more hours, but he was nervous if his body would betray him for the upteenth time that night. He had been doing a little bit better lately, but it was nowhere near normal. Both men settled into Mark’s queen sized bed, Mark on his back and Ethan nuzzled into his side, head over his heart. 

Mark traced mindless shapes into his boyfriend’s back with one hand and carded his fingers through his hair with the other. Ethan sighed and enjoyed the comforting gesture. Mark watched Ethan lovingly as his breathing evened out and sleep began to consume him. 

Once Mark was sure Ethan had fallen asleep, he closed his eyes and willed himself to fall asleep despite the lights in the room still being on. He couldn’t bring himself to move from Ethan’s sleeping body for fear of waking him. He always looked so tired and didn’t feel right disturbing him. 

As drowsiness began to ebb into the edges of Mark’s mind, he felt Ethan’s body twitch slightly. He chose to ignore it, brushing it off as a normal body twitch when people sleep. Mark began to get worried as Ethan’s body twitched again, only this time it was not a full body twitch, it was more of Ethan kicking. And when a high whine left Ethan’s throat and his body began spasming, Mark decided to withdraw himself from Ethan’s body. 

“Eth?” Mark said quietly.

He could see Ethan’s eyes were half open, eyes moving wildly back and forth. He was dreaming. Or he was having a nightmare, Mark thought judging by the way his body was jerking and thrashing on the bed. Mark watched him for a few more minutes but when tears freely began flowing down Ethan’s face, Mark decided he should try to wake him. 

“Ethan,” Mark said firmly, but he couldn’t wake his sleeping boyfriend. “Ethan you need to wake up,” Mark said again, shaking Ethan’s shoulder.

After a few seconds of Mark shaking him, Ethan’s eyes flew open, blinking rapidly. He gulped in lungfuls of air like he had just been pulled out of the ocean as he was drowning. Pain and memories from his nightmare lingered at the edges of his consciousness. 

“Mark!” Ethan cried, clutching one hand in his hair and the other twisted in the shirt Mark had let him borrow. “Mark it hurts!”

“What? What hurts?” Mark said, rushing to run his hands over Ethan’s body checking for any injuries that he could have sustained when he wasn’t paying attention. Ethan’s was thrashing his head back against the pillows, gasping for breath. 

“Ethan, tell me what hurts so I can help.”

“It hurts, it hurts, Mark. Please hold me, please,” Ethan begged Mark. Ethan sounded and felt like was dying. As if death in this very moment would come for him. 

Mark scooped Ethan into his arms, sitting back against the headboard and holding him tight against him. He gently shushed Ethan’s cries until they dwindilled down into soft whimpers. He rocked Ethan’s shaking body back and forth, hoping to provide him some kind of comfort and relief. Ethan’s forehead rested against Mark’s shoulder and clutched at his biceps.

“What happened?” Mark whispered into Ethan’s hair once his whimpers died down into deep breaths. 

“B-bad dream,” Ethan whimpered. 

“I gathered that much. Do you want to tell me about it?” Mark asked gently. 

“Um, my past..relationship? I guess, if you could even call it that. Right when I moved to LA, he um.. He was not so kind.” Ethan explained in a cautious whisper. 

Mark began to connect the dots at that admission. The faded bruises and the near constant flinching. Without thinking, Mark asked, “Did he hit you, Ethan?”

Ethan’s body tensed before he answered the question.

“I left after the third time.”

“I’m so sorry,” Mark nearly whimpered. Mark felt like he should have been there to protect Ethan. Like he should have said something when he saw the bruises. 

“It’s not your fault.”

“I saw the bruises, I should have said something,” Mark insisted. 

Ethan just shook his head in response. 

“You’re safe here, Ethan. You’ll always be safe with me.” 

Eventually Mark and Ethan fell asleep, tangled together. Ethan woke up twice more that night. Not as violently as the first time, but still painful nonetheless. And each time, Mark was there to gently coax him out of the painful after effects of his slumber.


End file.
